Search the Archives

  • Another Bad Naming Idea

    Posted on April 27th, 2006 by Spike and currently 1 commenting.

    Keep up with this if you can: themutal.net, one of the UK’s largest email advertising and direct marketing companies, recently bought EDR and The iD Factor. So, TO BETTER DEFINE THEMSELVES, they renamed their company TMN plc.

    I’m sorry, what?

    From a corresponding article, ‘The re-branding is not only designed to better define all three divisions of TMN, but also to help emphasize TMN’s growing knowledge base and number of client services.’ Um…what?

    Come on. I would’ve loved to have been in on that presentation to see how some agency (assuming one was involved) pitched the idea to abandon themutual.net and go with TMN.

    Just for fun, I did a Google search for TMN. The Movie Network was number one. That’s one out of more than 2.5 million results.

    Tags: , , , , , , , ,

  • Fight Club

    Posted on April 26th, 2006 by Spike and currently 1 commenting.

    Sometimes, while looking in the archives for past material, I trip over a document written long ago for this company. This a hybrid of one I just have to share. It was written as much for the people that work here as it was written for one of our clients at the time:

    The First Rule of Fight Club:
    ‘Don’t Run From a Fight’

    If it’s important to you, it’s important enough to fight for. And don’t expect someone else to climb in the ring for you. This is your fight. Learn where anger, sympathy and indignation live. And then use them.
    The Second Rule of Fight Club:
    ‘Swing with Passion’

    It’s simple. If you don’t believe in it, you won’t win. (Sure, sure. You can throw a few powder puff punches and hope something hits. But if you don’t have the raw, undying passion, you’re destined to lose.)


    The Third Rule of Fight Club:
    ‘Use All Your Punches’

    Don’t hold back. If you’ve got it in your arsenal, then use it. Your KO punches aren’t print or radio or TV ads. Your KO punches are people. Passionate, loyal, living, breathing people. Remember that.

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Happy Birthday to the Brains on Fire Blog

    Posted on April 24th, 2006 by Spike and currently 1 commenting.

    Our blog turned one year old on Sunday.

    Many, many thanks to all the readers, commenters and subscribers that we’ve had the pleasure to talk with over the past year. It’s been truly amazing to be able to connect with kindred spirits in such a personal way.
    Here’s to year two and beyond!

    Tags: , ,

  • “Are you safe?”

    Posted on April 24th, 2006 by Spike and currently 2 commenting.

    I woke up on Sunday morning to a flat rear tire. Not fun. So I called up the all-time best car insurance company in the world, USAA and had their roadside assistance come on out and fix it. When the call connected, before I could get any words out of my mouth, I was asked, ‘Are you safe?’

    Sure they were going to come fix my tire. Sure it was their job. But they were concerned about my personal safety first and foremost. This is a huge insurance company, mind you.

    Needless to say, they continue to impress me.

    But it got me thinking about how it’s those unexpected surprises that can really go beyond what a great identity is all about. Everyone hangs their hat (or at least tries to) on customer service. And the words have just about lost all meaning. Greg Cordell once spoke to us about the Reward part of FIRE (Fascinate, Inspire, Reward and Engage) and how sometimes the best reward ” and the simplest ” you can ever give you customers is a smile. Maybe today is the day that you try to go beyond the status quo and reward someone you come into contact with for absolutely to reason other than they are your customer.

    Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

  • Thanks for showing your pride.

    Posted on April 21st, 2006 by Spike and currently 0 commenting.

    Unbelievable.

    Big ‘ol in-trouble Delta Airlines is bankrupt. They’ve laid off thousands. And slashed the salaries of the people they kept. Now they are asking employees to come in at night and clean the planes ” for a t-shirt ” to show their pride in the company.

    We’re talking about scraping gum off the floors and cleaning windows, walls and even bathrooms in four and eight hour shifts ” for a company that apparently doesn’t treat them very well.

    It sounds like this is more of a way to make your already bitter employees even more bitter. And do the employees really even have a voice in the matter? One has to wonder.

    I don’t have to tell you that a big part of your company’s identity is the employees. It’s the person who answers the phone at the front desk. The way your salespeople talk to potential customers. Even how your security staff and janitorial staff interact with customers in your store or building. If you treat them poorly and ” worst of all ” with a blatant lack of respect, do you think they’ll be there in your time of need?

    Not likely.

    I once witnessed a man in a suit walking into a huge office building that stopped by the door and picked up a piece of trash. Now that’s pride. Sure, he could’ve ignored it or told the cleaning crew to make sure they take care of it, but he took the time and did it right then and there. That’s the type of pride we all hope for. Employees that look out for the little things. Because once they ‘get it,’ it’s infectious and will spread into every nook and cranny of your company. And then out the doors to your customers.

    Tags: , , , , ,
« Older Entries